commitment needs to be kept and
contracts are binding
advanced purchase agreements need to be
respected
today we have developed a system that
will allow us to know
whether vaccines are being exported from
the eu
this increased transparency will also
come with the responsibility for the eu
to authorize
with our member states these vaccine
exports
as the european public clamours for
faster vaccination
the commission is laying down the law to
big pharma
it's opening up the possibility of
banning vaccine exports from europe
and it's creating a crisis in ireland it
seemed barely imaginable a week ago and
now produces accusations
of eu protectionism it goes against
the official message it goes against the
the message of openness and
international cooperation
that the commission and you uh always
insist on
it's a very dangerous moment because one
does not know the repercussions of that
after all the vaccine relies on a very
complex global supply chain
so if the eu does this to exports from
of the final product we don't know about
the inputs and components that come from
all over the world
the politics has become very difficult
almost overnight
last two three days in portugal
and spain cases are rising steeply as
the new british
or b-117 covid variant spreads
the french government is also very
worried as new restrictions come in
across the continent
the commission put its deal with
astrazeneca into the spotlight today
publishing its contract with the firm
this is the latest step really and in a
huge
battle between the european commission
and the astrazeneca ceo
or the whole company really um earlier
this week the astrazeneca ceo
gave us quite an explosive interview in
which he started making lots of
allegations about things that were in
the contracts
so the commission was like well you know
let's see the receipts um let's show
the people what what's actually in these
contracts
the eu points out that in the contract
astrazeneca's plants are defined as
being
within the eu in terms of where eu money
is spent
and the company commits not to let any
prior agreement
for example with the uk get in the way
of its obligations to the eu
however the deal also says that the
initial eu doses will be made
in the eu and that paragraph doesn't
define azed's uk factories as such
what's more the whole document is
littered with the phrase
best reasonable efforts which the
company which plans to deliver 17
million doses to the eu in february
says it's making no one expects this to
come to court
it would take too long to resolve what
the eu is trying to do instead
is ramp up pressure on astrazeneca to
deliver more quickly
because time is of the essence as the
b117
coveted variance spreads across europe
it's about to enter a fresh
public health and political crisis i
think the commission is really trying to
show that they're taking a very serious
hard line against this pharma company
and so you know the commission is really
trying to say
you know sure we don't have to be you
know europe first
but we definitely are not going to be
europe second and so they're
implementing this expert control
to go back and say okay you have to meet
our orders first you cannot go back on
this contract and you need to supply the
eu just like you said you would
by april or may large-scale deliveries
of several types of vaccines should be
underway in the eu
but in the months before that happens
the union will face deep strains
as national governments take steps to
counter covid
and the commission comes under fire
there was a lot of complacency there was
too much bureaucracy
it hits right at the soft spots of of
what the eu
is about so it is i think it is very
serious and i think it will lead to
reforms i hope
it will lead to reforms faster decision
making
more political authority over the
bureaucracy the administration
um and and so on
one criticism of the eu is that it's
been too slow to license these vital
vaccines
the astrazeneca one only got the green
light today
in coming weeks johnson and johnson and
novavac should follow
but there too they could be playing
catch-up with the uk
okay been there now to discuss this
further i'm joined by spain's foreign
minister
aransa gonzalez liar minister thank you
so much for joining us from madrid
this is a mess isn't it it's a total
calamity caused by the european
commission's
slowness over getting the vaccine and
you're trying to blame it on the uk
and uk business
no i i disagree with this we are in a
situation
where with an incredible public private
effort
the ingenuity of scientists the power
of the pharmaceutical companies and a
lot of financing
from governments we've managed to do
something that is unthinkable which is
to develop a vaccine in one year
but what we also have done is uh
negotiate contracts with pharmaceutical
companies
most of them are doing uh their
deliveries they are doing this on time
and they are following
the agreements that have been signed and
some have not
and this is what is at the stake in this
uh precise at this precise moment
is the importance that pharmaceutical
companies deliver on the
engagements they've taken vis-a-vis the
european governments is no less no more
than that
but it has to be resolved it's not
against countries or against exporting
or controlling exports
is including transparency so that we
make sure that pharmaceutical companies
most of which by the way are delivering
on time is to make sure that all of them
do
and they honor the commitments that
they've taken vis-a-vis european
governments
but it's literally an export ban that
would affect
of the neighboring eu countries
neighboring countries to the eu it would
affect the uk
specifically and it may be a commercial
spat you have with astrazeneca
but why then embargo the united kingdom
as a whole
no i don't think the uh the measures
they can today
embargo any country what they impose is
pharmaceutical companies that would be
no no what it does is introduce
transparency over exports of
pharmaceutical companies that export
from the european union
as a measure as a mechanism to make sure
that pharmaceutical companies
deliver honor the commitments they've
taken vis-a-vis the eu
it's not a hostile measure against any
of
our neighbors or any third country and
by the way it makes very clear
rules for what happens when
the contracts are not respected and it
exempts a
huge amount of cases including
deliveries to the world health
organization to kovacs to low and
middle-income countries so it's not a
hostile measure but
um the country that have signed a
contract
and doesn't get the contract to be
honored well well the united kingdom
signed contract for pfizer biontech
vaccine which could now be embargoed
your country there's manufacturing of
the new johnson johnson vaccine in
barcelona
we understand would spain and stop the
exports of orders to the united kingdom
under this these sorts of measures
spain has no absolutely no intention of
halting exports of any pharmaceutical
company
that is honoring its commitment
vis-a-vis the eu why should
the spain would do that we are an open
economy we are an open country
but we are a country that wants the
contracts that the country signs to be
honored it's as simple as this
so no pharmaceutical company that is
respecting its contract has
anything to fear from any european
government certainly not from the
spanish government
that has an excellent relation by the
way with pharmaceutical companies
that are a big part of our own
industrial landscape having
your colleagues just got this wrong you
talk about vaccine hijacking starting a
vaccine war
um some of your colleagues in the
commission and in in the other european
countries but the fact is with
astrazeneca in particular the united
kingdom government had a huge role
in bringing to astrazeneca with oxford
university
and the condition of that was 100
million doses up front for the united
kingdom
and that's the deal and the european
union's not accepting the fact that the
uk has
first dibs on that vaccine supply quite
naturally
no the european union has no qualms
about
the contract that the uk has negotiated
with astrazeneca
and it wishes the uk well
in accessing the vaccine that it has
negotiated and
uh uh and it has agreed uh to
uh with astra seneca this is not the
question the question is the contract
that european countries
have signed with astrazeneca can i ask
you a question today can i ask you so
what we are saying what we are saying is
that
we want exactly the same rules to apply
to europe
what about northern ireland this has not
been a particularly glorious moment of
the european commission
this you this u-turn this accidental
they say
invocation of article 16 one of the most
sensitive parts of the brexit deal
well i understand this is what i hear
from the european commission that there
was an accident the accident or the
mishap has been repaired
and i think this is important but again
this is not a hostile act against third
countries or territories
this is the mechanism of transparency
that the eu
needs to ensure a particular
pharmaceutical company today
honors its commitment as simple as that
minister thanks very much for joining us
tonight